Boxes and Memories
by Serpentira
Summary: Response to Katja134's "Ginny Challenge" Lily finds an old box of her mother's when browsing the attic. What memories might it hold? One-shot Lily/Ginny bonding, Harry/Ginny, ASP/SM


**My attempt at e) of Katja134's 'Ginny Challenge', finally. Took a bit to get to it though. I couldn't resist her last suggestion though, sort of. It's not Lily/Scorpius but...**

**The challenge, in short form, was:**

**e) Lily finds an old box of her mother's from when she first moved in with Harry, and she asks her about it.**

**Items to include:**

**love letter from Ginny to Harry**

**newspaper article from the World Cup**

**a picture of Ginny and Luna**

**a child's drawing of Ginny's family**

**optional: Lily/Scorpius pairing Ginny didn't know about before**

* * *

"Mom, will you come up to my room? I have something I want to show you," Lily Potter leaned against the kitchen door frame as she watched her mother finish the washing up.

"Sure. Just a moment, dear," Ginny Potter replied with a smile, drying her hands on the bottom of her apron before she put the dishes away. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Lily exited the room and she wondered what her only daughter wanted her to see. Hanging her apron up she headed upstairs to find out.

The middle-aged redhead couldn't have guessed what awaited her; indeed, she wondered how her daughter had ever discovered it.

"Is that?" she started to ask.

"Yup," her daughter grinned, "one of your old boxes from when you first moved in with dad. I didn't realise what it was when I first opened it, but I thought you might like to finish going through it with me. That is, if you don't mind me seeing the rest of the stuff."

"That actually sounds kind of fun," Ginny smiled as she sat down beside Lily who'd tucked her legs up underneath her on the bed. The young girl grinned before reaching in to pull the first item out of the slightly battered cardboard container.

There weren't actually a lot of items in the box, and the scrapbook she'd pulled out actually took up quite a bit of the space. The cover was made of slightly flattened Gryffindor red velvet with 'Ginny' written in gold cursive across the front. Before Lily could open it a scrap of cream coloured parchment tumbled from between the pages. Curious, she unfolded the page and leaned over so her mother could read along with her.

"Dear Harry," Ginny began out loud, " 7pm at the Quidditch Pitch sound good? I'll race you for the Snitch. Love and kisses, Ginny." The two turn to look at each other before bursting out laughing.

"Not exactly your standard love letter, huh mom?" Lily gigged and her mother mock glared before her face softened into a dreamy smile.

"Worked though, didn't it," she grinned and her daughter grinned back before setting the parchment aside and opening the scrapbook.

The first page held a piece of parchment attached to it. It was a drawing done completely in red crayon, nine figures of differing heights in front of a rather scribbly building. A much steadier 

hand had written on the bottom left hand corner "The Weasley Family at The Burrow, as drawn by 3 year old Ginevra Molly Weasley."

"Quite the artist, weren't you mom?" Lily smiled as she turned the page. Ginny just smiled back, tracing her mother's bold letters with her hand.

The next entry was obviously from many years later, as it was a newspaper article from the World Cup back in the summer before her mother's third year. As she read through it she watched her mother out of the corner of her eye. The article was not a happy one. Instead of joyfully relating the outcome of the game it told of the Death Eater attack and the appearance of the Dark Mark above those gathered there.

"Mom?" Lily's voice is soft, the question obvious. Why would she keep something like that?

"It was a reminder," her voice is equally as soft as she responds, lost in her memory, "a reminder that I wasn't the only one who'd ever had to deal with him." There's no question who 'him' was, and after a moment's silence the page is turned again.

A few more newspaper clippings followed, as did some family photos and a rather entertaining one of the 'Golden Trio' with the three teens hanging out of a rather ancient looking oak. Every so often the picture Hermione would slip further down the tree and the other two would have to pull her back up onto the branch beside them.

A flash of gold caught Lily's eye as she flipped the page causing her to stop as she realised she'd nearly passed over one. A golden origami crane was attached on the one page, while across from it was a photograph of two teenage girls, one wearing a Gryffindor uniform, her hair braided, and the other in the Ravenclaw uniform, hair messily pulled back with her wand and radishes dangling from her ears.

"Is that, Luna?" Lily asked, eyes wide. Ginny grinned widely.

"Yes, that's her, and I do actually remember that picture, it was taken right after we finished our exams at the end of our seventh year."

"Seventh year, you mean when you went back?" Ginny just nodded, a smile playing across her lips. Lily opened her mouth to ask another question of her mother when a loud "bang" emanated from the adjoining bedroom.

The two women raced from the room, wands drawn as the scrapbook slid to rest on the quilt covered bed, momentarily forgotten. As the irate voice of Mrs. Ginny Potter was heard berating her eldest son, her daughter's laughter competing for prominence, two figures slipped into the room.

"Hey, Asp, look at this," Scorpius Malfoy turned to his boyfriend, pointing to the scrapbook.

"Looks like it's my mother's," Albus Severus Potter, aka Asp to his Slytherin friends, observed as he joined the blonde on his sister's bed. He was about to open the book when a flash of silver caught his eye. Reaching into the cardboard box resting on the floor beside the bed he withdrew a small silver broom charm on a chain.

"I wonder where she got that," he mused aloud as Scorpius made himself comfortable in his lap.

"Probably your dad, or maybe one of her brothers," he suggested logically before opening the scrapbook himself. Flipping through the pages the two boys began to sift through the life of a survivor of the Second War.

That was how Ginny found them several hours later once things with James had finally been sorted out. Lily had left for a friend's house without returning to her room, James was currently sulking in his, and Harry was still off at work so she'd decided to check on her other son. Smiling ruefully to herself she gently closed the bedroom door leaving the cuddling teens to their whispered conversation.

"And here I thought all I had to worry about was Lily..." she shook her head bemusedly and headed up to the attic. After all, maybe it was time she saw what else was up there.

* * *

**Maybe a little abrupt in places, but I'm not too annoyed with how it turned out. I haven't really done challenges before, or written anything fanfic related recently, so here was my attempt.**

**Hope it was up to snuff, Katja134. **


End file.
